Episode Five: 1933–1945Great Nature

The state of Wyoming then went to court, claiming that Jackson Hole lacked the objects of scientific or historic interest necessary for national monument status. Postcards showing a ramshackle outhouse were circulated with a message saying, "these are some of the historic structures here; this is one known to have been occupied several times by Horace M. Albright." A federal court dismissed the case.

In 1945, Roosevelt died and World War II ended, but the battle of Jackson Hole roared on. In 1950, after it became clear that the bitter fight would never end in unconditional surrender by either side, a compromise was worked out. Teton County would be reimbursed for lost property taxes; ranchers' existing grazing rights were grandfathered in; and the migratory elk herd would be managed by both the Park Service and the state, which would be permitted to stage supervised hunts.

A provision in the agreement banned future presidents from ever again using executive action to establish national monuments in Wyoming, except by the express permission of Congress. Wyoming – the state with the distinction of having the world's first national park, Yellowstone, and the first national monument, Devils Tower, now had another distinction: the only state where the Antiquities Act is null and void.

A Song for Freedom

In 1939, the world-renowned contralto Marian Anderson had been denied the opportunity to perform in Constitution Hall, the 4,000-seat Washington, D.C. auditorium controlled by the Daughters of the American Revolution, because of the color of her skin.

At the urging of Eleanor Roosevelt, Harold Ickes quickly issued Anderson permission to sing at a different venue: the Lincoln Memorial, a recent addition to the national park system.

The concert was free and drew a crowd of 75,000 of all races and creeds. After being introduced by Ickes, Anderson stepped to the microphone and began her program.

Her first song was "America." In light of the events that had brought her to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Anderson made two changes to the words. Instead of, "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing," Anderson substituted "to thee I sing," subtly altering the context from simple praise into an appeal to the nation's higher ideals. And she thought the final phrase of the first verse so important, she repeated it a second time: "From every mountainside, let freedom ring."

Iwao and Hanaye Masushita and Their Holy Mountain

Iwao Matsushita and his wife Hanaye were Japanese citizens who had moved to Seattle in 1919. They fell in love with Mount Rainier, which reminded them of Mount Fuji back home.

Each Sunday, the Seattle Camera Club, which Iwao had helped start, organized outings to nearby Mount Rainier National Park, where Matsushita took still photographs, created home movies, and kept a small journal to record the couple's adventures.

By 1940, Iwao Matsushita had decided the United States was home, even if its laws at the time prohibited him and his wife from becoming citizens because they had been born in Japan. By then, Matsushita had visited Mount Rainier more than 190 times. When the company he worked for ordered him back to Tokyo, Matsushita resigned. The Depression would make finding a new job difficult, but he and Hanaye wanted to stay close to their "holy mountain."

In 1941, in the first hours after Pearl Harbor, Iwao Matsushita was arrested and taken away from his wife because he had worked for a Japanese company. Hanaye was put in a temporary detention center near Seattle, where she tried her best to boost the spirits of her husband, far away in an internment camp in western Montana. Her letters to Iwao recalled their beloved mountain:

"Dear Husband... [W]e saw Mt. Rainier over the hill yesterday for the first time.... There will actually be a day when you'll be released and we'll be able to rest peacefully. Once in a while I dream [about] running around the base of Mount Rainier. Remember the times we hiked through the mountains together? It all seems like a dream."

It would take until January 1944 for the Matsushitas to be reunited at a detention camp in Idaho. After the war, they returned to Seattle, where Iwao became a teacher and librarian at the University of Washington.